Category: Part 3

I am going to do a series of drawings of the sections of the subject of the bridge and architectural features from Ex 2 from project 5 (townscape study in line) as my tutor suggested using pencil, grey marker pens and possibly white ink or gouache. Here I will explore a more abstract approach, the structure, its form and space. To answer the question: Can…

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My sketchbooks are continue to be my strength where I am ‘constantly engaged in each of the exercises and projects by first turning to this space, which is allowing you to interrogate your ideas and making this space your own; logging developments for a piece of work, playing with compositions, testing approaches and fusing materials, annotating and contextualizing your works’,…

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How did I do against the assessment criteria? Demonstration of technical and visual skills: Although I had an initial thought about my preferred medium (gouache and charcoal) I did further testing and found ink a better medium for my composition and the atmosphere of the location. I was able to get quite confident with my ink and brush technique. I watched…

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My assignment piece is covering a location near our home. First I strolled around to find an appealing scene. Actually I found two and did some sketches on both. I came to the decision on one scene due to its more mystic appeal and with a more variety of different textures and patterns. The other I could envision for a future…

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Statues: I found some (traditional and modern sculptures) along the waterfront and in some small parks. I cannot say a lot about those, although I felt attracted by certain qualities and surface properties. My first sketches done in pencil, studying part of the statue .. .. in more distance observed in a private garden (behind the fence). Walking further I…

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For this study I decided to go for the already identified scene and composition from Exercise 1 in larger scale. I was not so sure about the brief and which medium to use. As I definitely wanted to capture the contrast between the old bricks façade and the modern painted façade, I decided to go first for a wet medium…

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During my sketchbook walk in the city of Leer around the port, I came across an interesting pattern of lines: a modern residential building at the waterfront. First I’ve seen only the repetitive diagonal and horizontal lines (small sketch in my A5 sketchbook). I went back for a more open viewpoint on the scene and than I discovered the kids playhouse…

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For this exercise I went to the old downtown of the city Leer, close to the Northsea coast. It is an old sea town with many ships and boats. In the past there were fisherman living in the little houses. Now they are partly modernized – still residential buildings. On some buildings the very old bricks are exposed, with angles…

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John Virtue (b. 1947) – during his years as associate artist in residence of the National Gallery, he made a significant amount of works, some of them at very large scale. (see also my earlier research on his usage of material tone and scale) One further example of the large series of landscapes (actually a combination of land- and townscapes)…

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For this exercise I decided for the monumental view over the lake Lucerne in Switzerland still during my visit there. It was late afternoon, a quite bright day, but with clouds coming down over the mountains towards the lake. It was nearly a silhouette kind of view – with the dark pier in the foreground and the very dark mountains…

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For this exercise I took a viewpoint at approx. roof level in the swiss town with the mountains in the background. I chose a A3 format and pencil and ink pen. With the pencil I marked all lines that I checked with my viewfinder (for distances). For the angles I used I a wooden stick that I put infront of my eyes on…

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For this exercise I decided to search for some ‘doorways’ in the town in Switzerland I was visiting. I got attracted by the view inside the train station and a second scene of a tunnel under the railways. Therefore I decided to do my studies here. I checked the drawings later back at home. Eye level: as the ‘doorways’ were a bit un-straight with…

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After the last exercises on project three I was not very happy with the results. On the one hand the large scale from exercise 1 where I felt I was not bold enough in my markings. Therefore I took the scene from outdoor exercise 2 and did a large scale work on A1 at home. I considered my learnings from my…

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For this research I did not know first how to tackle it. I searched through some books form the reading list, searched online and actually got some references during my last museum visit. At the end I choose three examples (one from the course material). I felt attracted by the works of Amy O’Neill and Alain Huck and I was wondering…

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• How did you simplify and select? Were you able to focus on simple shapes and patterns amid all the visual information available to you? – Using hatching technique for more complex structures such as trees – Mapping out main tonal areas and light/shadow contrasts from observation and building up the object from there. Especially for the trees helped this approach. – Application of finer marks,…

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While preparing for this exercise I realised that some of the elements I already tried to include in the previous exercise. I understand this exercise such way that I will work on A3 paper in graphite and water soluble pencils. I think a good opportunity to go outside and draw on location. I will see how far I go and…

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After the various researches I was happy to continue with drawing on large scale. My head was so full of input that I was looking forward to put some of them into practice. I went through my sketchbook studies and one drawing from the sketchbook walk got my great atttention #1: ‘At the end of town‘ with the sign ‘No…

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Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) ‘Haystacks’ or ‘Wheatstacks’ 1888-1891 in Giverny. The serie is taking the same scene and object to reflect the different light and weather conditions over the time of a day and over different seasons. At his time it was very new and modern to put such a simple object as a haystack as the point of…

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For this exercise I went a bit outside of town to find a good view in all directions with fields, roads, canals, trees, houses, and a lot of clouds – as we are living in flat land at ±0m. On the dyke of a canal I’ve found a nice position. I put my stool there and started with pencil (B and 6B) in…

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For this exercise I walked along my regular running path through the fields and around the small towns in our neighbourhood. As this exercise asks for quick sketches as a kind of notetaking, I decided to take only my field sketchbook (A5) and two pencils (one fine B and one broad 6B) with me. At this time the weather changes…

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Vija Celmins is an Latvian-american artist who is devoted to drawing, painting and printmaking. She bases her works significantly on photographs, studying in detail the underlying patterns of the image. Especially her graphic drawing of the galaxy, the desert and the ocean show her intimate approach to texture and patterns. In her earlier work ‘Night Forms‘ in monochrome with bold contrast…

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For this exercise I will go out and make quick drawings of different cloud formations. In my region the clouds are sometimes quite fast moving and shapes and patterns are changing quickly. Quite a challenge. Therefore I took couple of days to work on this exercise. At times I got a bit frustated to depict enough volume of the clouds.…

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Landscape means mainly the depiction of a natural scenery. The depiction of a landscape in art goes back to the hellenistic period around 300 B.C. But only later it became a more selfstanding type of art. Especially the landscape painting from the early flemish masters of the 15th century. One example if the work of Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) of…

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In order to find interesting group of trees and focal points I went outside and did quite a few sketches (sketchbook walk). At this time of the year with not so much foilage on the trees I was looking for other interesting features. Most trees, especially the further distant ones, look like a silhouette in front of the sky (it is flat…

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For this exercise I decided to go for the willow tree in our garden (see exercise 1). Behind the willow were coniferous trees that make the background quite dark. I found it appealing to work with willow charcoal. First as it seems so natural for me and because I wanted to work out the shapes from the dark background with…

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I was looking forward to this exercise a kind of walk through our garden with the different varieties of trees. I went for pencil as I didn’t have so much chance to work with it in the previous part of the course. At the end I decided to draw the willow tree in ‘negative’ form as it was standing in…